Department for Education

Gender: Equality

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the study by Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business that gender diversity benefits do not materialise in organisations where internal competition is prevalent.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We are grateful to Lord Taylor for raising this; officials are considering the findings within the wider evidence base on women in business. We know that supportive workplace cultures are an important factor in progressing female career development. Our voluntary initiative Think, Act, Report promotes gender equality at work and has created a vast community of best practice on maximising female talent in the workplace. 300 businesses representing organisations of all sizes and sectors across Britain are signed up to the principles it embodies; collectively they employ over 2.5 million people.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry

Baroness Hollins: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 16 June (HL576), whether the trial of Mazher Mahmood is among those cases she refers to as connected to the subject of the Leveson Inquiry and which must conclude before they will consider Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry, and which other criminal proceedings are also in that category.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: There are a number of on-going cases captured by the Leveson criteria, which were laid down to avoid the risk of prejudice to the right to fair trials in the criminal courts. The trial of Mazher Mahmood is one of these.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Prisons: Teachers

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training teachers preparing to work in prisons receive beyond their teaching qualification.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: In the majority of adult prisons in England education is delivered by Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) providers. Individuals wishing to be employed by OLASS providers to teach in prisons should meet the same standards as those preparing to teach SFA funded provision in the learning and skills sector in England.In addition, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills grant funds the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) to deliver a specific programme of work to support teaching and learning in prisons, this includes activity to support the professional development of OLASS teachers. In 2016-17 we made available £0.6m to the ETF.Training such as in health and safety is the responsibility of the Prison Governor and is arranged locally for OLASS staff by individual prisons.There are also a number of privately managed prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service. The Directors of those prisons ensure that, beyond their teaching qualifications, teachers will attend a training course varying between three days and one week, depending on which prison they work at. This training is aimed at preparing them to work in the prison environment. A number of these prisons operate a further period where the new starter will observe and shadow existing staff, usually lasting two weeks.

Apprentices

Baroness Corston: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 21 June (HL669), what are the exceptional conditions in which apprenticeships of less than 12 months are published in their statistics on apprenticeships.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: Apprenticeships with a duration of less than 12 months are included in published statistics where the apprentice is 19 years or older on the day they start their apprenticeship and not all elements of the framework are being delivered. This could be because of Recognition of Prior Learning or previously certificated achievement of qualifications. In all cases, the minimum length of the apprenticeship is six months.

Overseas Workers: EU Countries

Lord Cromwell: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports that non-UK EU companies are reconsidering or withdrawing job offers to UK nationals, what assessment they have made of whether prospective employees will have access to a more limited pool of opportunities.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains open for business and continues to grow and thrive. Ensuring our new relationship with the EU works for employees and employers will be important in the months ahead